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Europeans, have experienced an unprecedented
leap forward in civilisation," Tusk said.
He added that the European perspective for Ukraine,
Moldova and the Balkan countries has also triggered
positive changes there as well.
When the EU received the Nobel Peace Prize in
2012, one of the reasons cited was enlargement.
But the wave of accession, dubbed the 'Big Bang',
also meant that consensus on often difficult issues
facing the EU had to be reached across 27 member
states (and 28 while the UK was still part of the bloc).
Cheap central European labour irked some in 'old'
member states, and the 2015 migration crisis exposed
deep political fault lines - exacerbated by illiberal
tendencies particularly in Hungary and Poland.
Some have called for the creation of a 'two-speed
Europe', in which a small group of EU countries
pursue tighter integration, a prospect which central
and eastern Europeans have rejected.
While support for EU membership remains at a
record high in central and eastern Europe, there has
been some disillusionment with the radical economic
and political transition, which populist politicians in
the region now exploit.
"I do not downplay politicians who are building their
position on negative emotions and resentments, who
use anti-European rhetoric, but frankly speaking,
I do not see them as successful in a longer-term
perspective," Tusk stated.
"People sometimes choose Orbans and Kaczynskis,
but for other reasons than the membership in the
EU," he said, referring to the Hungarian and Polish
leaders.
The EU has nevertheless lost some of its appetite
for further enlargement - even as several Balkan
countries seek to join, and jump through hoops to
meet the necessary conditions.
Yet 'multi-speed' is already a fact of life in the EU:
Romania and Bulgaria have not yet been allowed to
join the passport-free Schengen zone, while Cyprus,
Malta, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have
since introduced the euro.
Tusk said he "can understand those who are
concerned with the crisis of liberal democracy in the
countries of central and eastern Europe, especially in
Poland and Hungary".
Tusk added, however, that this "phenomenon
unfortunately has a much wider character", pointing
to outgoing US president Donald Trump, Turkey's
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro,
while "we can also see the increasing significance of
political radicalism in many European countries, for
example in Italy or Spain".
"I am convinced, however, that this is a seasonal
occurrence, and that democracy has taken root for
good also in the eastern part of the continent, and
that it still continues to have a pulling power for
others - whose beautiful example is the revolution in
Belarus," he said.
The last one to join: the accession treaty with Croatia, ready for
leaders to sign in December 2011
Photo: Council of the European Union
Tusk said even with waning enthusiasm, it
was "important that the EU does not resign
from strengthening its presence in its closest
neighbourhood - and does not give up on the idea of
enlargement".
"It is in our interest that Ukraine or the Balkans should
be more European than Russian, that China and
Turkey should not replace Europe as an attractive
role model and an end port for millions of people,
whose dreams about freedom, stabilisation and
prosperity are so similar to my dreams from a few
decades ago," he concluded.
11 — EUOBSERVER ANNIVERSARY 2020